The invention concerns an integrated system for protecting even civil flying platforms from various threats.
Infrared-guided, radar-guided, and dual-mode guided missiles are used, among other things, to combat, for example, marine targets, such as ships, or other objects on land and in the air. After they have been launched, these missiles or rockets fly, initially under inertial guidance (e.g., DE 196 01 165 A1) or GPS guidance to the target area.
To deceive guided missiles of this type, various decoys are used in order to protect objects by hindering the missiles by interfering with their function. Some decoys transmit electromagnetic decoy signals when a threat is identified (DE 100 16 781 C2), while others disperse “clouds” of floating dipoles (chaff clouds) that are tuned to the radar frequency of the missile.
A large number of these decoys is deployed to confuse the enemy search, since this produces additional targets besides the actual target object. During a missile attack, after the missile has locked on to the target, a seduction decoy is deployed. To deflect the missile, these decoys have, for example, a larger radar reflection cross section than the target object itself.
A method of protecting a target object that simulates the object is published in WO 01/36896. In this case, the silhouette of a ship is simulated.
The applicant's own patent application DE 103 46 001 A1 describes a method and a device for protecting ships from end-stage guided missiles. The decoy munition described in the cited document has integrated, electronically freely programmable delay elements, in which the delay times transmitted by a launcher or fire-control computer are stored. The decoys have their own energy storage.
Another application by the present applicant, namely, DE 196 17 701 A1, deals with a method for producing a decoy target. The active materials are positioned by a shell that has been caused to rotate. A preferred embodiment uses the idea of discharging the active materials, including an activation and distribution device, together from the shell case during the flight phase of the shell by means of a discharge part and then activating and distributing the active materials.
None of the prior art solutions provides for protection of civil targets, especially flying platforms. As is well known, flares require complicated sensor technology, which makes them expensive, and present a hazard due to the explosives they contain. DIRCM (directed infrared countermeasures) likewise have the disadvantage that they are cost-intensive and likewise require complicated sensor technology. Especially for use as protective measures in a civil aircraft, flares of this type and DIRCM are unsuitable, since they pose a hazard to the public due to falling and/or burning residual parts of a flare, cause annoyance to the passengers due to the noise associated with the deployment of the protection, and require complicated integration in the aircraft itself. It is also necessary to consider the external protuberances on the airplane and the associated impairment with respect to aerodynamics and fuel consumption.